Smart won't say who No. 5 Georgia will start at QB this week

by GEORGE HENRY, Associated Press

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, file photo, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart reacts during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Tennessee, in Knoxville, Tenn. Coach Smart is trying to level excitement as his unbeaten team keeps moving higher in the poll. The No. 5 Bulldogs are back at practice two days after a blowout win at Tennessee, and he wants fans to know that his team is far from perfect. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File)

It's part of his plan to keep Jake Fromm and Jacob Eason competing for the job and to prevent Vanderbilt from knowing his plans.

But Smart also wants his players to practice as if the season has not yet begun. He doesn't want overconfidence to creep in, not with Georgia No. 5 in The Associated Press poll and off to its best start in five years.

The Bulldogs (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) are coming off consecutive wins over Mississippi State and at Tennessee. Georgia outscored them by a combined 69 points, but Smart still saw plenty of issues to address after blowing out the Volunteers.

"I think when you watch the tape, everybody can get humbled by the tape," Smart said. "We got beat, we got beat up at positions, we got blocked at positions, so Monday is all we are worried about and all we are really focused on."

Like any coach, Smart is sounding alarms about the next opponent. Vanderbilt (3-2, 0-2) won last season at Sanford Stadium, but this year's Georgia team has better depth and appears to have bought into Smart's insistence on better practice habits.

That's one reason he wants to keep his team on edge, and refusing to name a starting quarterback is one way to accomplish his goal.

"It is not something we have to announce," Smart said. "We are not going to announce who the starting right corner or left corner is. We are going to announce it based on how they practice."

Terry Godwin, the team's leading receiver, constantly faces quarterback questions when he's on campus. Fromm, a freshman, is 4-0 as the starter after taking over when Eason, last year's starter, went down with a sprained left knee in the opener.

Godwin doesn't know which way Smart is leaning.

"Either way the coaches go," Godwin said, "it's going to be the best fit for us."

Eason, a sophomore, was cleared to practice last week. He played at the end of the Tennessee game, throwing an incompletion and handing the ball off on his other snaps.

"It was important to knock the rust off," Smart said. "He felt like he did in that game."

Fromm ranks fourth in SEC passing efficiency, but he doesn't have the size and athleticism of Eason, a former five-star recruit. The Bulldogs' passing attack ranks last in the league at nearly 150 yards per game.

"It'll be just like last week," Smart said. "It'll be evaluated in practice. I do think that Jacob is much closer to 100 percent."

NOTES: DT Trenton Thompson is out this week after spraining his right knee at Tennessee. Smart said the injury wasn't as bad as the team originally thought. Thompson has 17 tackles and was voted first-team preseason All-SEC. ... LB Davin Bellamy injured his left hand in the second half last week and soon returned to the field with it wrapped. Smart said he will practice with it wrapped and should be able to play. ... The Bulldogs have won 11 of the last 12 games at Vanderbilt. The Commodores pulled off a 17-16 upset last year in Athens.